I became a god by treasure hunting after arriving 500 years early

That surge of energy was murky, dim, yet vast and majestic.

A large part of it was the spirit remnants left by the Green Grass People.

Over the years, this portion of the spirit had become tainted.

In the world, everything continuously underwent entropy increase—steel would rust, stones would weather, and life would wither.

Even the Ideal Energy from the previous Epoch gradually changed from a state of low entropy to high entropy.

They always seemed less pure.

Another portion of the spirit was extracted from the souls of surrounding animals, which had also accumulated significantly over the years.

When he came into contact with these spirit energies, various miscellaneous thoughts surged into Lu Yuan's mind—animal memories, frantic obsessions, and even some bizarre dreams...

He didn't know where the Opium Poppy Tree had collected these junk energies from.

"It's too chaotic... Directly infusing this energy into the conch's soul would indeed cause her to undergo severe deformities," he said.

"But for the Tree of Life, as long as it is careful, it seems to be an unparalleled tonic!"

The Tree of Life tried to absorb a portion of it.

It was warm and indescribably comforting. Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

Just that bit of energy made one of the leaves of the Tree of Life grow visibly faster to the naked eye.

"Good, good, good... This is too intense," he said.

Lu Yuan, even though now a large tree, still couldn't help but quiver excitedly.

The growth of the Tree of Life was really slow.

It basked in the sun every day, relying on spirit crystals for energy, and it would naturally gain about 2-3 units of "Life Essence" per year.

Well, "Life Essence," a unit invented by Lu Yuan himself.

A unit of "Life Essence" could just about fertilize creating one Soul Baby Fruit, or two Pomegranate Fruits, or a hundred super-large corn cobs, the kind imbued with Extraordinary Power.

Or it could allow the Tree of Life to grow a little bit.

If it wanted to evolve quickly, it could only devour the remains of anomalies!

For instance, the [Monster] Spirit Eye provided about… around nineteen hundred units of Life Essence.

So it surged dramatically!

From the Rize Civilization, the five anomaly corpses they extracted provided a total of one thousand eight hundred units.

These two fortunes allowed the Tree of Life to grow to its current height of 15 meters.

As for the massive energy provided by the Opium Poppy Tree...

Lu Yuan estimated it was over fifty thousand units.

Perhaps sixty thousand!

This fortune was truly astounding, comparable to 30[Monster] Spirit Eyes!

Lu Yuan couldn't help but feel emotional, thinking about how powerful the "God" that the Green Grass Civilization tried to create was.

Keep in mind, the spirit remnants here were what was left after that earth-shattering battle...

Possibly less than one percent of the original?

It showed just how vast that [Demon's] plot had been initially.

"But still, sixty thousand units... sixty thousand!" he felt his concept of wealth was somewhat collapsing.

"How powerful would the Tree of Life be if it devoured all of this?"

Of course, even though overjoyed to the extreme, Lu Yuan remained very cautious.

Because the current crisis had not yet been resolved.

The Opium Poppy Tree seemed to notice the foreign vines; the surface of the bark once again showed protrusions in the shape of human faces, intending to attack.

Just as Lu Yuan was about to escape using Different Space, he suddenly felt telepathy from the Soul Gem.

[Mr. Lu, don't move.]

[I think I can move a tiny amount of this energy.]

[I will actively guide this energy to your vines, so the Opium Poppy Tree won't attack.]

With the help of the insider, Lu Yuan began joyfully absorbing it.

Then, picking up a mathematics book, he pretended to read in a visible angle to the conch: "*Cough cough*, study hard, this will take a long time."

The conch teased, [Seeing how happy you are picking up scraps I don't want, are you really that happy with trash, trash picker!]

When she said the words "trash picker," it meant she was very happy.

Lu Yuan, speaking deliberately and pretending to be calm said, "Don't lose control over such a small matter."

"It's just a small deal, after it's done, I'll give you a hundred Soul Baby Fruits."

[A hundred... You're talking about good stuff there! But, don't think that giving me snacks will make me any nicer to you… Alright, one is enough, it's very precious, giving more to me is a waste...]

[Half a fruit is enough!]

[Now, let's study mathematics properly.]

Lu Yuan couldn't help wanting to tease her, so he wrote a story on the ground.

"During university, the library was my favourite place because it had many beautiful girls. They were serene and possessed a kind of intellectual beauty."

"But I had an old lecherous roommate who whenever he saw a beautiful girl, couldn't stop spinning his pen, then dropping it on the ground. I never understood what he was really doing."

"One day, when a girl across the table passed me a note, I finally understood what my roommate was up to."

"Guess what was written on that note?"

Little Hua blinked again, apparently unable to guess.

"It read: Classmate, don't break the pen, sis is wearing leggings!"

Little Hua blinked again.

[Trashy lecherous roommate!]

Well, it was just a joke after all.

Back then, Lu Yuan spent his days holed up in his dormitory playing games and seldom went to the library.

He was a poor student!

…

…

...

Lu Yuan's life now had an inexplicable feeling, like speeding wildly on a highway.

The Tree of Life was growing wildly.

It grew one meter every day! The speed was too exaggerated!

There were also girls to play with.

Even if he didn't know what the girl looked like, a good personality was truly what mattered—and since the parents of the conch were pretty, she couldn't be too bad.

He had even learned quite a bit of math.

This inexplicable joy was just like chewing Excel gum, he simply couldn't stop!

…

But for the Sha Li Clan, dozens of kilometers away, this terrifying disaster was simply too much... too unbearable.

Even though they hadn't done anything wrong.

But, a weak civilization on the Pangu Continent was in itself a sin.

The opium poppy uprising had almost destroyed everything they had.

The village where Lu Yuan lived, called "Lower Sand Village," because of the Soul Baby Fruit he had left behind, had slightly fewer casualties, losing only some of the old, weak, and sick.

The rest of the villages were simply a scene of carnage!

More than half of the population died!

Only some with stronger innate souls or greater strength barely survived…

But soon, the situation in each of the villages underwent even worse changes.

Many survivors from other villages were completely mentally crushed.

Instead of banding together to fight the disaster, they gave up hope in despair.

There was no more order, these people, within a month, became bandits, turned into frenzied demons, looting each other, committing arson, and engaging in all sorts of evil!

There was even a large group of bandits who set their sights on the relatively orderly "Lower Sand Village"—after all, this village was the wealthiest, with the most food reserves and water resources.

"You lot have turned into bandits? You deserve to die! Chagu, you're even the village elder! Why don't you lead people to find water in Sky City?!"

"We can't survive anymore! We too have wives and children!"

Among the bandits, some spoke boldly, some with a hint of guilt.

No one dared to go to Sky City.

That place was too terrifying.

At the entrance to Lower Sand Village, the Militia Captain Sha Kan'er, with veins throbbing on his forehead, yelled, "When Mr. Lu comes back, you all are going to be executed!"

"Hand over your water and food, and we'll leave immediately! Otherwise... don't blame us for being ruthless!"

At the village gate, there was a large group of displaced villagers from other villages.

Their eyes were blood-red.

It was the backlash of a civilization in despair, the venting of falling into madness, and the manifestation of their base nature.

"Ah, let's hand out some water and food..." Elder Sha Sanli, looking at the tightly packed crowd opposite him, sighed softly.

"Elder?" The Militia Captain was stunned, seeming in disbelief.

Wasn't giving away their food akin to signing their own death warrant for these young people?

And even if they did give it away, would the other party be satisfied?

No, impossible.

They were like gluttons, a pack of beasts!

"If we don't give it to them, the war will start immediately. We only have one village, with just over three thousand people, and they are all skilled survivors, around ten thousand… We really are no match," the elder said calmly.

"We just need to hold out… hold out until they return."

"But..."

"Listen to me! This is Mr. Lu's order!"

The militiamen, hearing "Mr. Lu," also felt helpless; their survival up to now was all because of what Lu Yuan had left behind.

Plus, the other side had indeed many experts.

They had no choice but to grit their teeth and send out carts full of food as gifts.

Elder Sha Sanli's cloudy eyes narrowed as he quietly observed the mob at the village gate.

Some people gave the food to children first.

Others took the opportunity to snatch more for themselves.

The world is full of all sorts of people, the village gate was noisy and bustling.

He quietly remembered this in his heart.

In fact, he had received a task.

Before leaving, Old Cat had tasked him with selecting the displaced villagers who still possessed some conscience.

When Lu Yuan returned, they would be dealt with all at once!

Because of hunger, theft, and robbery were actually... understandable.After all, the most important thing was to stay alive; when one couldn't survive, everything else was nothing.

But murder, arson, rape, and other serious crimes were unforgivable and would be severely punished!

"Is Mr. Lu really still alive?"

"If he's dead, what should we do?" the elder asked, looking at the dense crowd of displaced villagers, his heart sinking into despair.

...

At that moment.

A tricycle was furiously speeding through the desert.

The tricycle carried Old Cat and four young men from the Sha Li Clan.

The leader, named "Sha Li," 21 years old, possessed "Super Speed Thinking" as his Divine Skill and "Hardening" as his Shape Skill.

Most of the experts were defending the village, only these few had slipped away.

Thinking about the possibility of "Lower Sand Village" being plundered by other villages filled them with a sense of urgency.

"Mr. Lu, please, you must survive!"

Sha Li, with a hint of despair, furiously pedaled the tricycle.